“I’m an anorak,” says Elton John. “I’m a fan.” In The First Time With … Sir Elton John (BBC 6 Music), Matt Everitt asks him about his first experience of playing vinyl. “I was fascinated. How does this sound come out of this round thing?” says Elton, without tantrum or tiara.

It’s refreshing to hear him chatting just about music. There’s his love for Bernie Taupin’s lyrics, which never fades. “The more I sing the lyrics, the better they get,” he says. He still maintains an air of mystery when Everitt asks him to clear up the eternal “Will he play Glastonbury?” rumour. “I haven’t been asked,” he claims.

Elton recalls playing a gig with Nina Simone, who cried when she got a standing ovation for her version of Here Comes The Sun, which is just beautiful. His love for new music is also touched upon, from working with Clean Bandit and enthusing over the latest New Order album.

Then there’s the obligatory glimpse into his personal life, when he touches on the first time he faced up to his drug addiction at the height of his fame. Admittedly, he was too stubborn to ask for help as he cried in a hotel room listening to music, but when he did, everything changed. “I was completely at rock bottom,” he says, his voice wavering. “Six months later I was in rehab.”

Now he’s a family man and makes his children earn their pocket money. “A silver spoon is no good to anybody,” he says, wisely.

Tougher to listen to is Amnesty’s In Their Own Words (iTunes) with Christian Bale narrating the story of Chinese civil rights activist Chen Guangcheng. Guangcheng gives an insight into growing up in China, where his brothers would take him out to the forests to explore nature once he’d lost his sight, and explains how he became a fearless campaigner against social injustice.

The horrific details of the Chinese system are hard to comprehend, from his description of forced abortions to his time in prison when he kept his scabs in a plastic bag as evidence that he’d been beaten. Although Guangcheng and his family, who were kept under house arrest and tortured, are now safely in America, his story still needs to be heard.